The Michigan Tech men’s basketball team (12-9, 9-5 GLIAC) took on the Grand Valley State Lakers (11-11, 6-8 GLIAC) and GLIAC newcomers, the Purdue Northwest Pride (1-21, 1-13 GLIAC) this past weekend. The Huskies narrowly slipped past the Lakers on Thursday, by a score of 77-75 and dominated the second half on Saturday to go on to the 72-46 victory over the Pride. Junior Bryan Heath joined the thousand-point club at MTU Saturday against Purdue Northwest.
On Thursday, Feb. 1, sophomore Tommy Lucca went down early with an injury and did not play the rest of the game, or on Saturday. The Huskies went down early, trailing 7-3 not even two minutes into the game, however, a three by Heath pulled the Huskies within one. A made free throw by junior Kyle Monroe tied the game up at 12 apiece. Monroe gave the Huskies the lead sinking a three just 30 seconds later. Two free throws, a layup and two three-pointers by Heath gave the Huskies a double-digit advantage at 28-18, with less than ten minutes remaining in the first half.
The Huskies and Lakers traded basket for basket for a few minutes, until a three by freshman Dawson Bilski made it a nine-point game again at 35-26 MTU. A three by freshman Isaac Appleby made it a 40-31 game in favor of the Huskies, however, the Lakers went on a 6-0 run to close the gap to three at 40-37. A three by Heath and a layup by the Lakers ended the first half in favor of the Huskies 43-39.
Monroe started the second half by knocking in a couple of layups for the 47-39 lead. Senior A.J. Grazulis made it a double-digit game again as the Huskies went up 51-41. Monroe did what he does best, and that’s scoring, as he made it a 14-point game in favor of MTU 56-42. A three by senior Dillon Gordon made it a 15-point lead at 59-44 with 14 minutes left in the game.
However, GVSU responded with a 11-2 run to make the lead only five for the Huskies at 61-55 with nine and a half minutes left. The Lakers continued their run to make it a four-point game at 65-61 MTU with just under seven minutes remaining. Tech and GVSU matched each other basket for basket until a layup and free throw by Heath made it a nine-point game again, 75-66, with two minutes remaining. An 8-2 run by the Lakers in the final two minutes pulled GVSU within two with 35 seconds remaining. A missed three by the Huskies gave the Lakers the ball back with eight seconds remaining. The Laker player drove to the basket and fortunately it bounced off the rim just as time expired.
“For the most part, I’m happy with our performance tonight when we executed our systems,” Michigan Tech Head Coach Kevin Luke said. “Credit goes to Grand Valley State because they played hard the whole game and implemented their game plan very well. We got loose a little bit though and as a result of it they made some timely runs to get back into it.
Heath paced the Huskies in points, finishing with 23, while Monroe was right behind him with 22. Gordon finished with ten, while Grazulis had eight. Appleby finished with six, Bilski finished with five and Lucca rounded out the scoring finishing with three before his injury. Grazulis led the Huskies with eight rebounds, while Appleby finished with six assists. Monroe and Appleby each had a block for the Huskies, while Monroe had two steals.
On Saturday, Feb. 3, the Huskies again went down early, trailing 8-3 after a dunk by the Pride. A layup by sophomore Ryan Schuller and a trey by Gordon tied the game up at eight apiece with 14 minutes to go in the first half. However, the Huskies saw the game go in favor of the Pride, as PNW went on a 9-0 run to take the 17-8 lead. A layup by freshman Trent Bell sparked the Huskies offense as they went on a 12-0 run themselves to retake the lead 20-17. The Pride retook the lead again with two layups to make it a 23-20 game with 15 seconds to go. However, Bilski came in clutch and knocked down a three to go into half tied at 23 each.
The second half started with both teams trading basket for basket. Appleby knocked down a jumper, which was the start of the Huskies pull away from the Pride. One of Bilski’s six threes on the day gave the Huskies the double-digit lead at 45-33 with 12 minutes remaining. A three by Heath and a layup by Monroe gave the Huskies the 55-38 advantage with eight and a half minutes to go. A minute later another trey by Bilski put the Huskies up 60-38. A jumper by Heath at the 5:21 mark put the Huskies up 66-43 and was his one-thousandth point scored as a Husky. Another three by Heath a minute later put the Huskies up by 16, 69-43. Another three by Bilski would be the Huskies last points as they went on to win 72-46.
The Huskies were led in scoring by Monroe, who finished with 20, followed closely by Bilski and Heath who finished with 18 and 17 respectively. Appleby, Bell, and Schuller each contributed four points, while Gordon and Grazulis finished with three and two points each. Monroe completed the double double by leading the Huskies in rebounds with 11 and Schuller had the sole block for Tech. Monroe and Appleby each led the Huskies with six assists.
“It was really nice to see Dawson [Bilski] have a big game for us today with 18 points. He is feeling more comfortable and is just going to continue to get better,” Michigan Tech head coach Kevin Luke said. “I’m really happy for Bryan [Heath] reaching the 1,000-point mark for his career. Bryan has been an awesome player here and I hope he gets 2,000 points because he deserves it. He is a good kid and has had two very good games back to back. We need that going forward for the balance of this offense and to help with some of the scoring load.”
The Huskies will be on the road for their final regular-season road trip, as they travel down to University Center, Michigan to face the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals (8-14, 5-9 GLIAC) Thursday, Feb. 8, and then travel to Midland, Michigan to face the Northwood Timberwolves (9-13, 5-9 GLIAC) Saturday, Feb. 10. Tip-off is projected for 8 p.m. Thursday, and 3 p.m. Saturday. The Cardinals and Timberwolves are both coming off a weekend of being swept on the road at Ferris State and Lake Superior State. MTU swept both the Cardinals and Timberwolves earlier this season in Houghton by scores of 75-67 and 87-70.
